Among the Hollywood “quality” films sent to me in November for
consideration in our NYFCO awards meeting was “Crazy Rich Asians” that I
could not endure for more than 15 minutes. If I had watched the whole
thing, I probably would have written a review something like this:
If you go to a bachelorette party on an island and the other guests put
a huge bloody fish head on your pillow, you are in a horror movie, not a
rom-com. Maybe at this point in the history of capitalism there’s not
much difference. Crazy Rich Asians looks more like a glossy tourist
magazine produced for an international economics summit than a movie.
That’s from A.S. Hamrah, the film reviewer at N+1, a really great
Marxist journal of politics and the arts. The graphics aren’t snazzy
like Jacobin’s but it is ten times smarter. Hamrah should get a medal
just for sitting through this garbage.
Starting not long after the NYFCO awards meeting, I got back to the kind
of films I really enjoy. I doubt that I will see any this year that is
more of a polar opposite to “Crazy Rich Asians” that opens tomorrow at
the IFC in New York and the Laemmle in Los Angeles than “Communion”, a
Polish cinéma vérité documentary about a family that is not only at the
bottom of the economic ladder but burdened by serious family problems
that would challenge even a billionaire’s. It is up to the 14-year old
Ola to keep things together. With a 13-year old autistic brother being
prepped for his communion and an unemployed alcoholic father to look
after, her perseverance and grace under fire is something to behold.
full: https://louisproyect.org/2019/01/03/communion/